Rose and her Clockwork
by Dabi100
Summary: When the serial killer Clockwork (creepypasta) takes interest in the young and neglected huntress in training Ruby Rose, a dormant madness is awakened in Ruby.
1. First meet

As the shattered moon rose up in the midnight sky, two girls wade their way through the silently buzzing streets of vale. They were returning from a night party, chatting all the way without a care in the world.

"Hey... Have you heard?"

"Hmm? Heard what?"

"You know, About the killings that happened recently."

"Uh yeah... What about that?"

"They say that it was done by a very weird looking girl"

"weird looking?"

"Yeah! You know, they say that the girl had a clock for an eye!"

"Like... An actual clock?"

"Yeah! You know, its also said that she had stitches on her face which were sewn into the corners of her mouth to resemble an upturned smile."

"Whoa! Really? That's just creepy..."

"I know right!"

"By the way, where did you hear these?"

"Uh... Rumours..."

"Really... Just rumours?"

"Yes..."

"You know rumours always exaggerate stuff, right?"

"Well sometimes they do... But hey! Anything is possible! They might even be true."

"For an airhead like you? Yes"

"Hey! Who are you calling air-" "Excuse me" The two girls were so immersed in the topic, that they never noticed the stranger walking behind them.

As soon as they heard the stranger call, they stopped in their tracks and turned around. The person who was supposedly a female, was wearing a blue hoodie with black skintight jeans and boots. She also wore large goggles that covered her eyes, and black facemask that covered her nose and mouth as well.

"Yes?" One of the girls asked.

"Um... " The stranger spoke, holding her scroll in one hand, and playing with her long and wavy brown hair with the other.

"Where is the nearest bar?" the woman finally asked.

"Oh... Um.. Go straight, and take a left" one of the girls said while pointing towards the narrow part of the streets.

"I see, Thank you." The woman said before walking off. Once she was sure that she was far away from the two girls, she clicked her tongue. "I've been careless" She muttered under her breath as continued walking.

She raised her scroll and reviewed the pic of the two girls she secretly snapped. It was a decent image that could later help her remember their faces.

"Gotta make sure they don't go spreading anymore rumours."

As her mind got busy devising a plan to kill those two girls, she failed to notice the red head she was walking straight into, leading to an unlucky crash. Even after she bumped into the little girl, she managed to keep herself from tripping and hitting the ground. However, the redhead wasn't as lucky, as she already had her face planted to the cold concrete.

Once the woman had her balance stable, she took a look at the girl she crashed onto, who was starting to get back to her feet while rubbing her sore head. Examining the girl's features, she wore a black long-sleeved dress with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front and around her skirt is red trim. She also wore a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces and trims around the top and red soles. To top things off, she wore a crimson cloak.

"Ouch... " the girl whispered as she got up and shook her head, flailing her neck length black hair, that had a shade of red towards the end. She then turned around and faced the woman.

The woman gasped, as she was slightly... Taken back. Looking down at the shorter girl, the glitter in the young girl's silver eyes were like unlike anyone's she met before. Bold, but innocent. They were so full of life and charisma, that it annoyed the woman on the very first sight.

"Oh!" the girl cried, startled, like she just realised the woman was standing there.

"I-I'm so sorry!" she gave an another high pitched cry as she bowed and apologised.

"Its okay. I wasn't watching where I was headed." the woman said as she reached out her hand out and pat the girl's head, causing her cheeks to heat up.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine.." She muttered, trying to keep herself from stuttering. The woman who noticed this formed a smirk under her mask. 'She's cute' she thought as she sneaked out her scroll and took a snap at the flustered girl.

'And that makes three for today. Guess that's enough' She thought, satisfied with the numbers.

Having spotted her today's victim's, it was about time she got to work. And she would start off from Ruby.

"Are you a huntress?" she asked.

"... In training" The girl hesitantly answered.

"I see." she sighed, relieved that she didn't pick a tough target. "What's your name?" she asked, taking her hand off.

"I'm Ruby Rose" she answered as she stretched her hand out.

"A pretty name, for a pretty girl" the woman said as she shook hands. The woman's skin was cold, but still very soft.

The pink tint reappeared on Ruby's cheeks as she got complimented. "T-thanks..." She muttered. "W-what's your name?"

"Oh me? I'm ... Natalie" the woman introduced herself.

'What a weird name' Ruby thought to herself.

"So tell me Ruby" Natalie slid a finger beneath Ruby's chin and coaxed her head to look up at her, since she was easily a foot taller than the red head.

"What's a young student like yourself... Doing here, all alone in the middle of the night?"

Catching Ruby gulp down nervously, Natalie knew she hit the nail on the head.

"O-oh... Y-you know... Just out for a walk..." She lied, unintentionally making it obvious.

"A walk you say..." Natalie got closer, silencing the gap between them both.

"Then why do I smell alcohol?" she asked.

Ruby's eyes widened. She was caught red handed. It was no surprise that a girl of her age wasn't supposed to drink. She was just 15 after all. But this stranger just read through her secret like an open book.

She felt that spending anymore time with this stranger could land her in a lot of trouble.

"U-um... L-look at the time, I have to go!" She fake gasped, before turning around and hurriedly walking off.

The woman just smirked under her face mask and called out.

"You're from beacon ,aren't you?"

Ruby froze on her tracks, her eyes so wide they could pop out.

'This woman... She knows' She thought as a bead of sweat trickled down her forehead.

"Ruby Rose, from beacon academy. I wonder if I should... Send a word."

"No!" she cried out, before hurrying back to Natalie. "Please! You can't do that!"

"Hmm... Can't I now?" She teased, even Ruby could tell she was smirking under her mask.

"Please...!" She pleaded. She had been keeping this secret from everyone till now, cause she very well knew the consequences. But this woman was threatening to throw all her efforts to waste ."What do you want?" she asked.

That... was exactly what Natalie wanted to hear. She now knew that the girl was completely under her mercy.

"What I want, Huh?" she repeated while running her cold finger across Ruby's collar bone. "That my little Rose, Is what I wanted you to say"

Ruby didn't reply, she just glared at her with tears running down her pale face.

"Hey, calm down" She snickered while cupping Ruby's face and wiping her tears off. "I too was gonna grab some drinks, and I was hoping that a cute girl like you could keep me company, that's all" she said as she cupped a side of Ruby's cheek.

"W-what...?" Ruby questioned with a sniff, not able to comprehend the simple request.

"You heard me, Just keep me company, and you're free to go." She said with a chuckle.

"That's it?" She questioned, a relieving smile spreading across her lips.

"Yup! That's it!" Natalie reassured...

"O-okay then... You promise to let me go after a drink?"

"Yup! I promise."

* * *

Time seemed like the least thing that bothered Ruby, as she sat on a street side bar and downed another shot of her alcoholic beverage. Natalie just watched with a smirk, as everything was going as planed.

She didn't bother drinking, as it had the risk of removing her mask in a public place. Now all that was left to do was let Ruby go on a full hungover, take her to the woods, and enjoy dissecting her.

"Say Ruby" She spoke, getting a hum from Ruby as a response.

"Why do you drink?" she asked out of curiosity. As Ruby looked like the most innocent of souls, it didn't quite make sense for her to be alcoholic.

Hearing the question, Ruby's head dropped. She didn't want the question to be brought up, but a part of her knew it would eventually happen.

"Its... Complicated.." she said.

"Its okay, I have knack of understanding even the most complex of things" Replied Clockwork, now growing all the more curious.

"You don't listen, do you?" Ruby just sighed and shook her head. "Well... I guess it all started back at signal."

'So she went to signal' Natalie thought as Ruby continued.

"Since I was a bit... Antisocial, I was usually picked on... Just by one guy actually. He used to bully me almost regularly... One day, we fought.. Outside of school, in the woods. I was just minding my own business... You know, training without crescent rose."

"Crescent Rose?" Natalie Interrupted.

"Oh... She is... Umm... My Scythe..." She explained, with a slurry tone.

"Scythe?" she questioned with disbelief. Its not often she saw someone use a scythe. Moreover, not someone like Ruby.

"Yesss... Oh! She's also a gun..." Ruby said proudly.

"Oh... That's cool. Now continue." she demanded.

"Yeah... So I was training without crescent rose... To get better at hand to hand combat." she continued with hiccup. "And this guy came from out of nowhere. Seems like he was stalking me... Anyway, he came and started beating me up. I couldn't defend myself... I was weak at hand to hand to combat. He was laughing... Laughing at my helplessness... And then..."

"And then?" Natalie demanded again.

"And then... Something happened." she answered, causing the woman's both green and clock stuffed eyes behind her goggles to widen. If this was heading the way she thought it was, then she had just found someone very ... Similar.

"What happened?" She questioned, hoping for the answer she expected.

"And then... Everything became weird... There was a ringing in my gut... And the last thing I remember before blacking out was... Me getting back to my feet... After that, everything went black." Before Natalie could question it, Ruby continued.

"And... When I woke up. There... There..." Ruby placed her hand over her face and sobbed.

"W-what happened? What was there when you woke up?" Natalie questioned, starting to sweat drop.

"There... There was blood in my hands!" Ruby softly yelled, before she broke down crying.

Natalie gasped. Shock, relief and happiness, flooding through her like a river.

'This girl...' She was just like her!

Clockwork never expected, to find a mirage of herself in Ruby. But now that she did, she was more than happy.

But her celebration was cut short, as Ruby continued.

"At that point... I knew... I had killed him... And the worst part... I never felt guilty! I... Felt like I was worse than a grim...!

From then on... Whenever I got angry, I would do my best to control myself. If it got too hard, then I would secretly drink away. Somehow, it helped me calm down." with that, she stopped explaining. As Alcohol took its toll, she collapsed on the desk.

Meanwhile, Clockwork just sat there, feeling very satisfied.

* * *

It was quarter to four, and Ruby was lying in an open part of the woods, over piled up dry leaves. As moonlight shone over her fragile body, Natalie gazed down at her with a smile.

Originally, she had planned on bringing Ruby here just to brutally murder her. But things were different now.

As Ruby lay there on the ground passed out, Natalie removed her mask and tossed it aside, revealing her smile sewn mouth. As the face mask flew away along the thick winds, she removed her goggles, revealing her right eye which was brilliant green, and her left eye, which had a face of analog clock stuffed inside. And weirdly, it was still ticking.

She crouched down and held Ruby's head in one hand.

'Such a pretty face' she thought to herself as she ran her finger across Ruby's soft and puffy lips.

Without a second a thought, she leaned down and engulfed Ruby's mouth with a kiss. More than romantic, it had an other purpose. The purpose of pumping a little of Clockwork's aura into Ruby, as it would help kick start her... Plans.

Once she was done, she parted from the kiss and stood up. With one last smile, she started walking off.

"Sleep tight my little Rose, we'll meet again, very. Very soon."

Ruby just laid there, accompanied by the cold night breeze, and the light from shattered moon.

She was oblivious, to what has just been done to her.

She was oblivious, to the madness that was yet to come.


	2. Classes

Ruby groaned as she threw an arm over her eyes, blocking the sunlight from piercing through her eyelids.

"Ugh... Yang? Stop that...!" She murmured, before creaking her eyes open. She immediately regretted it as the sunlight made contact.

"Ouch!"

She once again covered her eyes and sighed. Her head felt numb, and she could still taste the lingering sourness in her tongue from last night's liquor.

"Maybe I drank too much... Last... Night!?" she yelled the last part as she swiftly sat up. She shot her eyes open and started looking around, she found herself surrounded by dense forest. Trees and bushes everywhere, accompanied with warm breeze and echo's of beetles.

"What am I doing here...?" She whispered to herself as she slowly stood up. She rubbed her head and looked around, trying to figure out how she ended up here.

As she ran her fingers through her hairs, she picked out a few pieces of dry leaves sticking out of her hairs. With a silent groan, she dusted off her combat cloths and started walking. As the leafs crunched under her feet, she tried to remember what happened last night.

Most of it was just a blur, no clear detail on anything. But she did remember one thing;

"That woman..." she muttered. The last thing she could remember was talking with a stranger. A woman who introduced herself as Natalie. She remembered drinking with her in a bar before passing out. But she couldn't really remember what they spoke about towards the end.

The woman never showed her face, and she gave off a very. Very ominous feel. Not to mention, Ruby clearly remembered Natalie blackmailing her. But her reason was just too ... Silly.

_'Maybe she really just needed a company for the night... I mean, she did say so herself' _Ruby comforted herself.

_'It was just a one time incident, she... Natalie is gone now'_

Though she thought that, a part of her felt... Odd. It was like the woman was still with her. It wasn't anything clear, but just a very... Subtle feeling. Ruby couldn't really place her finger on it, but felt like something was... Different.

Shaking those thoughts off, she continued walking. After nearly an hour of walking, she reached the end of the woods and stepped on the road. It was a narrow gravel road, but she knew where she was. This was one of vale's abandoned roads. Nobody really came here anymore because it was... simply Forgotten.

This just bloomed more questions in the young Huntress's head.

_'How did stumble all the way till here?' _she questioned.

_'Maybe... Natalie dropped me off here? But why?' _

Thanks to her head being numb, she couldn't really press on the question anymore.

"Well, at least no grimm found me. Hehe" She chuckled, but still shuddered at the thought.

She sighed and shook her head, before starting to walk along the road. The air felt fresh and there was still some tint of orange in the sky.

"Its still early morning,huh?" she said to herself.

She took out her scroll and checked the time, which said 6:10 am. Ruby expected to have gotten a thousand missed calls or messages, asking where she was.

But there was none. Not even from Yang.

"Of course" she said sadly while putting the scroll back in her pocket.

Its been 5 months now, since her team has started... Ignoring her. They would always join team JNPR and go off somewhere, often leaving her behind. They would leave her out of their talks, chattering among themselves. Whenever Ruby questioned their behaviour, they would simply answer 'You're too young for that' or 'We need some time for ourselves'

It was clearly visible, that they were ignoring her.

But Ruby wasn't an attention seeker. So she didn't say anything. But still, she was a team leader, so she was just happy for getting to spend some time with her team during training and missions.

But that didn't last too long. Since past two months, they had stopped listening to her. They would go off making their own strategies, abandoning the redhead most of the time. Even her partner Weiss would join her sister Yang and Blake, leaving Ruby all alone to either scout the area or do something all by herself.

It truly saddened her, how the people she loved so much... Cared so less about her.

But yesterday, things went from bad to worse.

During a combat session, yang had injured herself when trying out her own strategy, despite Ruby advising her not to. Ruby, being the responsible team leader and a caring sister she was, scolded Yang for her recklessness. She did it because she was scared if her sister would hurt herself. But her reward, was a harsh slap to the face.

"Don't tell me what to do Ruby, I'm your older sister!" she venomously spat out.

Maybe she did it out of frustration, but Ruby couldn't believe what just happened.

Her sister, the person she loved the most in the entire world, the very person who vowed to protect her, had hurt her. More than anyone could...

And worst of all ,nobody cared. Weiss didn't even bother looking at her, Blake was busy comforting yang.

She felt sad. Distraught.

But most importantly, she felt something else too. The ringing in her gut. It was growing by the second, tempting her to hit her back.

The sadness soon faded, and was replaced by anger. She HAD to hit her back. She HAD to hurt her! That way, they would know their place!

...

But she couldn't.

She could never ever forgive herself, if she ever laid her hands on her teammates. She just couldn't.

So she ran. Ran to a far away bar and downed a bottle full of hard drink and waited. Waited for the sinister ringing to go down.

After few hours, it finally did. However, by the time it was gone, it was already approaching midnight.

She got off the bar and was about to head back, but it was then, somebody crashed onto her. That was the time she met her... Natalie.

Though the woman was ominous and scary, she wanted to talk some more with her. It was the longest she's spoken to anyone at all in the past few months.

Ruby wiped her tears off and continued walking.

After nearly 2 hours, she finally reached beacon. The classes were already going on, so she just silently sneaked her way into her dorm room. Thankfully, the rest of her team were already in class.

She just stripped and went straight to the shower. Somehow the cold shower felt very relaxing. While she stood there, embracing the shower, she felt it.

A feeling...

Like being intimate with something... Or someone. It wasn't arousing, but more like... Entangling.

But sadly, the feeling disappeared as soon as it appeared. Leaving Ruby confused..

_'Maybe its due to the over drinking...' _She convinced herself.

She freshened up thoroughly, making sure to erase every trace of a hungover. Not that anybody would notice, but Glynda Goodwitch wasn't just _anybody. _Ruby didn't want to sit through a session of life advice.

After the shower, she came out of the bathroom with towel wrapped around her. She went to put on her usual combat cloths, but found herself hesitating.

Among all the discomfort she was feeling, she didn't want to add up more by wearing thick clothing and her cape. For once, she just wanted to relax.

"If I'm right, there shouldn't be any practical combat classes today, So it should be fine." she said to no one in particular, with a cracked voice.

And then she started putting on some casual clothing. Calmly, with no sense urgency, like she had all the time in the world.

She wasn't becoming Lazy, her mind just felt... Calm.

After putting on a pair of white T-shirt, with dark blue jeans, she put on a deep red hoodie. She sat on the corner of the bed, and took a moment to compose herself.

"When will all this end?" she sadly whispered, before she slightly dropped her head and sighed. She closed her eyes and focused on the ticking sounds coming from the table clock.

A few minutes passed, with her just sitting there and listening to the slowly passing ticks. Even though she was used to hearing it everyday, today it felt different. It was oddly... Relaxing.

With a deep exhale, she finally stood up and exited the dorm, she slowly, peacefully walked down the hallway of Beacon, admiring the streaks of sun rays passing through the windows. Finally, when she reached her class she saw that Professor Peach was in the middle of teaching something, and the students were either listening to her or just chatting with each other.

Usually, whenever she was late, she would either skillfully sneak past the teachers, or she'd use her semblance to get in unnoticed. But now, she just felt too tired.

She knocked on the wide open door, gaining the attention of literally everybody in the classroom.

"Miss Rose, may I know why you are this... Early to the class?" professor Peach questioned, with a faint smile.

"I... I'm sorry..." Ruby spoke, oddly finding it difficult to not yell.

"I... Was out last night, and I got busy..."

"Got busy, huh? I'll talk to you about that some other time." She announced, her smile never fading

"Well, I'll let it slide this one time. But next time, its detention." she motioned her to take her seat. Ruby just nodded before walking towards her place.

While on her way, she caught sight of Weiss glaring at her, like almost accusing her for being late. Ruby just sighed before sitting next to the heiress. Weirdly, she didn't really feel like a partner anymore.

"I can't believe you just left without even saying a word!" Weiss scowled.

"Where the hell were you anyway?"

Ruby felt anger boil up inside her. She wanted to punch the heiress square in the face the very instant, but held herself back. Next to Weiss ,Blake and Yang were sitting, also glaring at her, expecting an answer.

Ruby didn't answer, instead she just got off the bench and made her way downwards, leaving WBY dumbstruck. She went and sat on a far away bench, next to a rainbow haired girl.

As the classes continued, Ruby could feel eyes on her most of the time, but choose to ignore it. She wasn't willing to be a victim of their neglect anymore.

In the middle of the class, she felt a _buzz _in her jeans pocket, it was her scroll vibrating. She took it out and checked it, to know that she had received a message. It was from an unknown number.

The message read:

_"He__llo, my little Rose" _

Maybe it was just an intuition, but Ruby had a vague Idea, on who it could be.

_"Natalie?"_

She typed back, excitement bubbling up in her for some unknown reasons.

_"Oh my, so you do remember!"_

_"What do you want?" _she questioned.

_"Was wondering if you wanna meet up later on. Just us girls" _

_'This woman...' _she was giving serious stranger-danger bells, it felt very unsafe to even message her. She didn't know what this woman's motives were, so it was best to keep her distance from her.

But still... She could use a little talk. Its been a while since she's had anyone to talk to.

Hesitantly, she lifted her fingers and typed.

_"Sure... Lets" _


	3. Trap

(A/N): For those of you who don't know who Clockwork is, check her out on google, or creepypasta fandom.

* * *

The setting sun painted the sky red and lilac, as Ruby sat in the street side bar. Her mind was currently racing with emotions. Though most of it was nervousness, excitement was at the surface too.

The day had been pretty exciting for her. She had just ignored her team for good, thanks to which she had been feeling their eyes on her throughout the day. Now she was about to meet a the stranger, who could actually be pretty dangerous.

With her team, it didn't make sense. When they were ignoring her for months, they treated her like a faded memory, and they never heard the redhead complain. Yet when Ruby started ignoring them just for a day, they were glaring at her like a walking-talking magot.

_'Hypocrites...' _Ruby cursed under her breath, having gotten fed up of her team's selfishness. Sure she still loved them, they were very important to her to after all. But now ,doubts were starting to bubble up in her.

_'Maybe I'm the one who's simply showering them with love... No, I'm wrong. I have to be.'_

As for the woman she was about to meet... She couldn't even think straight about it. The only thing she knew about the woman, was that her name was 'Natalie'. Other than that, she didn't even know how the woman looked like under the mask.

Obviously, something felt wrong. She felt like she was stepping on something very dangerous. And that danger somewhat... Excited her. Sure, she had always been the one to get excited over dangerous situations, be it hunting Grimm, or just training. But she never knew she would get excited over stranger danger.

Maybe she wasn't. Maybe it was Clockwork's aura that's been dissolved in her, that she was totally obvious of.

Either way, she couldn't find the courage to go through with this.

"Maybe this isn't a good idea" she muttered as she got of the chair.

"What isn't a good idea?" came a mature woman's voice from behind her. Ruby froze on her path, a chill fluttering up her spine. From the deepest part of yesterday's slurry memory, she recognized the voice.

She slowly turned around, and was met the same woman from yesterday. She was wearing a black hoodie, with blue shorts, and the face mask and goggles were still present.

"I'm so happy you didn't bail out on me, my little Rose" Natalie said in a very satisfied tone, as she cupped a side of Ruby's cheek.

Ruby felt taken back by how the woman casually called her as 'her little rose', and how she started caressing her cheek. She also felt weird out by how natural it felt.

"Y-yeah..." She fake laugh, as she gently pulled the woman's hand off her face. Weirdly, she wanted to place Natalie's hand back where it felt right, her cheek. But she managed to resist the foreign urge, internally amusing Clockwork.

Ruby took a deep breath and straightened herself, before gazing at the woman with a more confident look.

"So, why did you call me?" she asked, managing to sound demand full.

"Hahaha! What kind of question is that?" she laughed, but seeing that Ruby wasn't laughing along, she continued.

"Why, I kinda liked your company yesterday, so I just wanted to hang out." she shrugged.

"Really? That's it?" Ruby pressed. Sure, she had her share of innocence, but she knew when to stay vigilant. But Clockwork wouldn't have any of it. She knew Ruby was just like her on the inside, and she wouldn't stop at anything, before she can pull the dormant madness to the surface.

"Yeah, I promise!" Said Natalie, trying to sound excited.

"Hmm..." Ruby squinted her eyes doubtfully, and stared at Natalie. After few seconds, she just gave up and sighed.

Its been months since she's hung out with anyone, and she could indeed use Clockwork's company.

"Fine. But no drinking" she said as her expression softened, and her lips curled up to a smile.

"Yay!" Natalie squealed, engulfing the petite girl on an unexpected embrace. Ruby felt slight discomfort, but didn't find it in her to push the older woman away.

_'She smells __sweet... Like Strawberry's' _Ruby thought, as her face pressed against the woman's collar bone.

A little blush bloomed on her face, she gently got off the woman's embrace. Natalie, who noticed Ruby's blush, was more than just amused by her cuteness. Just the thought of Ruby going on killing spree with that cute face ... Aroused her.

"So..." Ruby began. "Where are we going?" she asked, excitement starting to bloom in her.

"Wanna go shopping? I'd LOVE to" Natalie suggested. Truth was that she wanted to buy Ruby some new cloths, because she wanted Ruby to dress the way she preferred.

"But... I kinda... Left my card in my dorm..." Ruby said while rubbing the back of her head, a bit embarrassed that she just botched the hangout.

"Don't worry" Natalie said as she pat Ruby's head. "I'd love to pay for first date." She informed.

"You sure?"

"Yup!"

Ruby's face immediately lit up,as her silver eyes glistened. She immediately grabbed the woman by her arms and started leading the way.

"Alright then, leeeeets go!" she cheered, causing Clockwork to chuckle.

But one thing still bothered Ruby though. The fact that Natalie never actually showed her face.

But she decided to question it for later, cuz for now, she just wanted to have fun with her new friend.

* * *

Ruby and Natalie were walking around the mall, Ruby holding Clockwork's hand, blinded by excited.

"I cant believe you brought all this for me..." Ruby muttered, holding bags of cloths. She felt guilty that Natalie had spent so much money just for her sake. She didn't expect Natalie to be so kind.

Literally every dress she brought was Gothic and black. Sure, she usually dressed somewhat Gothic, but not this much...

"Um.. Nats?" she called.

"hmm?" Natalie hummed in question.

"Thanks for the cloths, I really like them..."

"Oh my! Don't thank me yet, Ruby" Natalie waved.

"But why is everything black?" Ruby asked.

"Oh! I kinda thought you'd look great as a goth!" Natalie exclaimed, with a clap.

"You think so?" Ruby asked.

"I know so" Natalie said as she lifted Ruby's chin. Causing Ruby to blush harder than her cloak.

They just stood there for minute, staring at each other. Until Ruby decided to break it.

"Uh... I'm sorry to ask this... But why are your covering face?" Ruby finally asked.

Clockwork very mush expected it, so she decided to play it more manipulative. She sighed and dropped her head, making Ruby think she offended her.

"H-hey... You don't have to tell me it if-" She began, only to be cut off.

"Its... Its because I'm ugly.." Clockwork muttered, with a fake yet perfect sober tone.

"What?" Ruby said, slightly taken back. "I would never think that!"

"No Ruby... You don't understand..." Natalie shook her head. "People... Have done some horrible things to me..." she said, placing a palm over her masked face.

Ruby instantly felt regret erupt in her for carelessly touching a sensitive spot. Her innocent and kind nature causing her to feel bad for Natalie. But little did she know, that she was being lured into Clockwork's plan.

"I... I'm sorry..." She said, pulling the older woman to a hug.

"Its fine..." Clockwork assured, grinning to herself as she patted Ruby's back.

"Hey..." Ruby spoke, peeling off from the hug. "Let me see your face." she demanded.

"What?" Clockwork fake gasped. "W-why...?"

"Please... I want to..." Ruby insisted. She felt like she could give the woman some confidence.

"But... " Natalie sighed before continuing "Fine... But not here..."

"Then where?" Ruby asked, tilting her head a bit.

Clockwork smirked under her masking before answering.

"To my place."

* * *

Ruby sat on a mildly tattered couch. She was currently on her new friend, Natalie's home. The apartment was actually pretty small, but still cozy. It appeared to be a bit old, but still had fresh atmosphere to it.

**Sure there were corpses hidden in the basement, corpses of innocent lives Clockwork claimed, i****n her own twisted, sadistic ways. Not to mention the basement walls, which were literally filled with grotesque artworks, that Clockwork had done with blood of her victims...**

"I'm sorry for causing you discomfort. I don't really take good care on where I live" Clockwork said, standing in front of Ruby and rubbing the back of her head.

"No no, I actually like your place. It's somewhat... Calm" Ruby assured. And it was true. Compared to all the heat she's been feeling back at Beacon for the past months, this was really much better.

"Anyway" Ruby said sharply, as she stood up face to face with Natalie. "Now, I'd like see your face..."

Natalie sighed and shook her head.

"You don't give up, do you?" she said as she unzipped her hoodie and took it off, revealing that she was wearing a brownish red tank top. Natalie shook her head, flailing her long and messy brown hair. But Ruby's eyes were fixated on Natalie's skin, which was soft and pale. The urge to feel it was strong, but Ruby resisted it.

Then, Slowly, Natalie took off her goggles. Ruby couldn't believe what she saw.

Her right eye was as normal as it could get, with lustrous green hue to her Iris. But her left eye... Well Ruby wasn't even sure if it was an eye at all. It had a face of an analog clock placed underneath her eyelids. Though it wasn't really ticking.

While Ruby was too dumbstruck to say anything, Clockwork went on to remove her face mask. As the undone mask fell to the ground, Ruby finally got a look at Clockwork's face. It had a feminine shape to it, but an appearance like she never seen before. Natalie even had black stitches which were sewn into the corners of her mouth to resemble an upturned smile.

There was silence in the apartment, Ruby too taken back to say anything.

"So, do I look scary enough?" Clockwork asked in a sarcastic tone.

It shook Ruby out of her trance, as she finally took in Clockwork's appearance. Sure, she looked scary, but...

_'But why do I find her so beautiful?' _she questioned.

She moved close and cupped a side of Natalie's face, feeling the stitches, along with her cold and soft, pale skin.

"No, Nats. You look beautiful..." Ruby said with a smile, her silver eyes glistening.

She couldn't understand it either. After seeing Natalie's face, she didn't get freaked out at all. On the contrary, she actually started liking her even more.

She truly couldn't understand.

"Thank you, my Rose" Natalie said as she brought Ruby to a very passionate embrace. "You are the best friend I ever had"

Ruby didn't say anything, instead, she just smiled and returned the hug.

Clockwork, out of Ruby's sight, formed a devilish smirk. She never expected it to be so easy to manipulate Ruby. Right now, the little Rose was completely in her grasp.

Now, there was just one more thing left to do, before she could finally start corrupting- Or, bringing out the true nature within Ruby.

"Hey Ruby..." She called, still keeping her in embrace.

"Hmm?" Ruby hummed.

"Why don't you stay over tonight?" she asked.

Ruby, Completely oblivious to the state she was in, agreed.

"Sure! I'd love to spend more time with you!"

**_'Oh trust me, my little Rose . We're gonna be spending a lot of time together~' _**


	4. Change

Ruby silently groaned as she rolled closer to Clockwork. The bed creaked a bit as she settled down her head upon Natalie's shoulder. The woman's skin against the redhead's cheek felt good, it was soft, and cold. Not freezing cold, but enough to be oddly satisfying.

_Odd_. She never knew a cold body would comfort her so much. Yet, another thing that only Clockwork made her feel.

Its been two weeks. Two weeks since Ruby first arrived here, to Natalie's home. What she thought would end up as one night sleepover, turned into a mini vacation. Truth be told, Natalie never forced her to stay. It was Ruby, who found comfort after a long time, decided to take a few days off Beacon and stay with her new friend.

Sure, she never really called and informed it to anyone back at Beacon, be it professor Ozpin, or her sister Yang. She knew that explaining it to them would be... Tiring. Knowing that they wouldn't take it so lightly, she turned off her scroll.

And it has remained off for the entire 2 weeks.

Ruby curled up and brought an arm over Natalie's torso, pulling her into a deeper snuggle. Natalie just sleepily groaned as she returned the embrace and kissed Ruby's forehead.

Ruby took a look at the sleepy face of Natalie and chuckled. She never thought that she would be waking up to the face of Natalie, and genuinely be happy about it.

It was indeed weird, how with every fleeting second, Clockwork appeared more beautiful to her. The creepy appearance of Clockwork never bothered Ruby, if anything, it only made her want to get more closer to the woman.

"Good morning, Nats" Ruby said as she got up and stretched her arms,as a smile spread across her face. It felt good, to wake up with a smile on her face, with no worry's.

"Nmm..." Natalie just hummed and responded with a mumbled good morning, causing Ruby to chuckle.

These past months, she's only been waking up with worry. How to get her team to notice her? What to do if they ignored her again? Etc. But it's been different these past two weeks. Right now,for this moment, all she cared about was herself and Natalie. Or to say, the thought of Beacon never crossed her head.

She took a look at the clock, which read 8 am. She got off the bed ,went to bathroom and freshened up. Once she was done, she was about to walk out, but something in the mirror above the sink caught her eye.

It was her own reflection.

Though it somewhat looked... Different.

She couldn't really place a finger on it, but something definitely seemed different. At that time, she didn't know, that her gaze had somewhat sharpened.

**A pair of beautiful, glassy, silver eyes, with a soul piercing gaze.**

Ruby just shrugged it off and exited to the bathroom. She decided to put on some comfortable cloths, cause she wouldn't most likely be going anywhere soon.

She just put on a black sleep shirt which Natalie brought for her, and nothing else.

She walked into the kitchen and after downing a bottle of cold water, she started preparing some breakfast on one side of the stove, while heating milk on the other. While she was busy humming and facing the stove, she felt a very much expected pair of arms wrap around her from behind.

The groggy and sleepy Natalie embraced the girl from behind and rested her head on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby smiled as she cupped a side Natalie's face and placed a quick peck on her cheek. To Ruby, it was just a show of affection, nothing more.

Like how once she and Yang were.

"Breakfast's almost ready, go freshen up!" Ruby chirped. Natalie mumbled a small "Okay" and walked into bathroom.

Not more than ten minutes later, Natalie came out, with all traces of sleepiness gone. She and Ruby sat down on the dining table and started having breakfast.

At that time, she just wanted to check news a bit. So she decided to turn on her scroll, and place it on the table as they continued with the breakfast.

The morning would've gone undisturbed, if not for Ruby's scroll ringing.

Of course, Ruby expected this to happen, but just not this... Early. Sure its been two weeks already, but she didn't want this time with Natalie to end.

Ruby hesitantly answered the call, and put it on loud speaker.

The sound peacefulness of the house was shattered, as an angry Glynda's voice cut through the scroll.

_"Ms. Rose! Where have you been!?" _Glynda yelled.

"I-I'm sorry,professor. I... was in my friend's house..." Ruby spoke, with a hint of guiltiness in her tone.

_"A friend's house!? Ms. Rose, do you have any idea how worried I have been?" _Glynda asked, with disappointment evident in her tone. With a sigh, she continued.

_"Don't you have classes you have to attend to?"_

"I'm sorry... I was just really worn tired, and I wanted to take a break..."

_"...__Why didn't inform anyone, not even your sister?"_

"...I'm ... Sorry..." Ruby's voice cracked, with her tears threatening to fall. It didn't go unnoticed by Glynda, as she toned down a bit.

_"You're a team leader, Ms. Rose. So behave like one"_

"..."

_"I want you to come back and speak to me. Today"_

"..."

_"Do you understand?"_

"Yes professor"

_"Good"_

With that, the call hung up.

Tears escaped Ruby's eyes, as she finally broke down.

"Hey, its okay" Natalie quickly got closer, and embraced the younger girl. Ruby just sobbed on Natalie's shoulder, as she patted her back.

"Rose, look at me" Natalie cooed.

Ruby looked at her with glittery eyes, and pinkish cheeks.

"Listen, you can come back anytime." Clockwork smiled, while cupping a side of Ruby's cheek.

"Really?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, you are always welcomed to my place. We are friends after all" Natalie informed as she patted her head.

"Thank you! Natalie, you are the best friend I've ever had!!" Ruby tackled Natalie with a hug, as the images of Weiss, Penny, Pyrrha, Jaune, lets say everyone back at Beacon, faded to nothingness.

It was now set in her heart, that Clockwork was someone she'd never let go.

**Even if things came to worst...**

She didn't know it yet...

"Besides, Remember the training we did?" Natalie asked.

The memory's of two week's training flared in her head, the very simple yet effective training.

The purpose of the training was simple, to remain calm during a fight.

A calmness that wouldn't disturb a still water...

"Y-yeah, I do... But why?" Ruby asked, refusing to let go of Natalie from her embrace.

"Make use of it. Show your team that you are fit to be a leader. If you remain so kind, people will continue hurting you. Don't make the same mistake I did." Clockwork said, hatred blooming in her unstable mind, as she remembered few flashes of her past.

"Nats... Alright." Ruby agreed, finally breaking off the embrace.

She stood up and picked up her scroll.

"I'll get changed, and head back" Ruby informed, before making her way towards the bedroom.

After Ruby went in, Clockwork sighed, and smirked.

These past two weeks, along with the mental training, Clockwork has been flooding Ruby with her own aura. Now, it was time to view the end result, of the unseen metamorphosis.

Soon, Ruby came out. Wearing a black one shoulder dress and matching black jeans. She held a small bag, which had her cloak, folded and placed in it.

"kay... I'll be leaving then..." Ruby muttered as she was about to exit the house, but was stopped by Natalie.

"Wait, Ruby" Clockwork called as she got up and walked to the bedside drawer.

Ruby just silently watched, as Natalie picked out an eyeliner and lipstick.

"Nats?" Ruby asked as Clockwork got closer, and gently held her face by the chin.

"Hold still" Natalie cooed as she brought the eyeliner to Ruby's face, and drew a black outline around Ruby's eyelids.

Ruby's glassy silver eyes looked truly soul piercing, with a black lined frame.

She remained silent, as the smile stitched woman applied black lipstick to her fluffy, cotton soft lips. Once she was done, Natalie brought a thin bang of Ruby's red and black hairs ,and covered half of her right eye.

Now, Ruby truly looked like a goth. Pale skin, bright and glassy silver eyes, seductively black lips, she perfectly played the part.

She went from insanely cute, to diabolically cute.

"I like you a lot more this way" Natalie said as she let go Ruby's face and smiled.

"I-I see... W-well I'll remember it..." Ruby stuttered, as she internally thought..

_'God! Why am I so embarrassed!?'_

"W-well, I'll be leaving then!" Ruby said as she gave Natalie a quick hug and ran off.

Natalie just watched as Ruby got out of sight. A smirk formed over her lips as she closed the door and laid down on her couch.

She pulled out a scroll her called a number.

It was ringing for a few minutes, before the someone from other end finally answered.

"What the hell do you want?" Answered a deep ,yet feminine voice.

Natalie's smirk grew as she replied.

"There there, calm down. I just want to ask for a little favour... Jane"

**It was going to be an exciting day today, Both for Natalie and Ruby.**


	5. Back in Beacon

Ruby carried a paper bag in one hand, which had her neatly folded cloak in it, as she briskly walked down the halls of Beacon. It's been 2 weeks since she's been here, so everything had a rather fresh feel to it.

The students passing by were giving her few curious looks, as Ruby gave of different aura from her usual bubbly self. Wearing a black one shoulder dress which showed a generous amount of collar bone, black jeans, black eye liner framing her glassy silver eyes, glistening black lips, she truly had Gothic charm to her now.

Ruby didn't notice people staring at her, as she was busy thinking of way to... Settle things with her team. She didn't want to hurt them, but for the sake of the team, she had to be a strict leader.

She tried being the nice and kind leader, but where did she end up like that?

In the shadows of neglect...

She didn't hate them, no, she still loved them. But, this was another matter.

She'd been looked down on by almost everyone until now, claiming that she made it to beacon in a fluke, dusting off all her hard work as 'luck'.

So she had a point to make today.

But most importantly, she needed to make Natalie happy.

That woman had been doing nothing other than make Ruby happy and warm, so it was her turn to do something to impress Clockwork.

**Even if it meant hurting someone...**

Among many passing eyes that took a moment to adore her, a particular amber eyes caught the sight as intriguing.

No, she wasn't interested in Ruby's new Gothic makeover, she was interested in something else... Something that no one noticed.

A glint in Ruby's almost glass like eyes.

Now, Cinder knew the type of person she herself was. She was someone with a strong sense of authority in her aura, something that made even strangers watch their words, if not their breaths. But if there was one thing that was always present in her amber eyes, it would be the glint of lust.

The lust over power, and everything else...

The very thing that she now saw in Ruby's eyes.

What intrigued her more, was that the redhead wasn't showing any manner of awareness of it.

It almost seemed like she didn't know she was lusting...

She looked as innocent as ever, but with something more terrifying lurking underneath...

Only after a student accidentally bumped Cinder's shoulder, did she realize that she had been staring for a while.

Shaking off the slight trance, she glared at the student that bumped into her. The girl almost shivered at the mere sight, before running off.

"Tch" She clicked her tongue in annoyance, before turning back towards Ruby. But to her surprise, she was greeted with two pools of liquid mercury staring into her from up close.

If it wasn't for her ability to maintain her composure, she would've jumped back with a yelp.

"Cinder Fall, right?" Ruby asked, her eyes staring at her with curiosity.

"Yes, that would be me" the woman smiled as she folded her hands.

"Ah, yeah yeah! I bumped into you once, right?" Ruby chirped, with eyes slightly wide from realisation.

"I suppose you did" Cinder replied, with a smug expression.

"Ah, heehee" Ruby rubbed the back of her head, slightly in embarrassment.

Usually, she'd have been struggling to speak up. But, after being so close to Natalie, her shell had been slowly broken.

"Sooooo, I noticed you were staring at me... Did you need something?" Ruby asked, seeming slightly less embarrassed than before. But what surprised Cinder, was that she didn't expect the redhead to notice.

_'She's sharp...' _Cinder thought, trying to come up with explanation. At times like these, Cinder knew how to use her charms to escape.

People can be easily taken off track by lust. And Cinder had plenty of it.

With a friendly grin, and seductively half lidded eyes, Cinder placed a finger under Ruby's chin and coaxed her head to look at her.

"What shall I say, You just looked so cute" Cinder spoke, before coming close to Ruby's face.

Instead of an awestruck girl, simply too flustered to resist, she was met with a surprise.

Ruby, gently and politely pushed Cinder back, still keeping the smile on her face.

"I see, thank you Cinder." She said, seemingly uninfected by Cinder's diabolic charms.

Usually, Cinder used her beauty to render others off their confidence. Trapping them in her hot gaze.

But with Ruby, it just simply didn't happen.

Because to Ruby, no one, not even Cinder, was as beautiful as Natalie.

As Ruby stood there facing the ebony women, a very, very, tiny ringing in her gut emerged, as her black lips curled into a grin.

Cinder, who noticed this, took a step back out of instinct.

Ruby calmly took a step forward and placed her hand on Cinder's shoulders, gently squeezing it. Cinder, who was slightly taken back, found herself unable to speak.

From Ruby's dangerously flaring silver eyes, Cinder caught a reflection of herself.

A women, with surprise and helplessness written all over her face, stared back at Cinder.

**She looked so helpless.**

_'What... Wha...' _Cinder tried processing what was going on, but her mind was getting clouded.

Her attention was everywhere, her consciousness wouldn't stay still. Yet, she couldn't look away from Ruby's eyes.

They were staring at her with such intensity, that Cinder simply couldn't bring herself to look away.

Her head felt numb, starting from her peripheral vision, everything started darkening. The blackness consumed most of her sight, leaving nothing but two round mirrors in the darkness.

In those mirrors, she could see a woman. She looked scared, she looked oblivious to what was going on around her. Nervous, and panicked.

Yet, too weak to struggle.

It seemed like the pools of silver that surrounded the women, was imprisoning her.

Something was not right in here, it was just not.

First, It was her charm failing to work. Now, she felt like she was being consumed by a lust not her own.

"you too, look beautiful, Cinder." She heard a voice speak.

She didn't know who's voice it was, it just came out from the darkness.

Or maybe, it was her own voice.

She didn't know.

All she could do was just accept it.

.

.

.

.

.

"Miss Rose!"

Suddenly, she found herself back on the Beacon school grounds. Standing on the same spot as before, but with seemingly weaker legs.

She was breathing deeply, due to the unknown the panic. Her heart pounding against her ribs, refusing to calm down.

She could feel a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead, why was she panicking? She couldn't understand either.

It was like a very slow, and detailed jump scare.

_'What the hell happened!?' _she internally screamed, trying to breath normally.

"Ah! Professor Goodwitch" she heard Ruby chirp, causing her to direct her attention to the redhead.

She still looked innocent, like she was completely oblivious to any in evil in existence. But Cinder knew, whatever she went through was because of the redhead in front of her.

That... just felt so unnatural.

Sure, this was somewhat interesting and intriguing, but...

She didn't know, if she was to look deeper into this, or stay away from it. Its been a very long time, since she's felt fear straight from her gut. Even now, her instincts were screaming at her to stop thinking about it, like doing so might cause it to happen again.

"So you decided to show up after all." Glynda said, keeping her never changing stern tone.

She took notice of Ruby's new appearance. Simple, yet too attractive. Though she didn't understand why everything was black. _'Lips too?' _She thought making note of her eyeliner and lips.

"And..." she continued, looking at Cinder and straightening her glasses "the first thing you do after coming back, is flirt with an exchange student?"

Of course, Glynda didn't mean what she said, as she knew the innocent girl that Ruby was. She just meant to put some guilt on her, so that she could feel responsible for her absence.

"Besides" Glynda continued, turning back to ruby.

"As a team leader, you seem to have gotten too careless. Disappearing like that for two weeks without informing anyone, what was I supposed to do if something had happened?" She lectured Ruby, a little concern showing in her voice.

_'I see, despite being the wicked witch, professor still cares about students huh...' _Ruby thought as she grinned sheepishly, while rubbing the back of her head.

Glynda expected an apology to come from her favourite student, but thanks to Natalie completely breaking Ruby's shy shell, something unexpected happened.

Much to Cinder, Glynda and passing by students surprise, Ruby walked closer to Glynda, wrapped her arms around the older woman and pulled her into a hug.

The students mouths fell agape, so did Glynda's, as Ruby held Glynda in a close embrace.

"I missed you too, professor" Ruby muttered.

A little amount of blood rushed to Glynda's face, as she struggled to keep her strict face intact.

Now, she could just scold Ruby for the 'inappropriate behaviour', but a part of her didn't want to. After all, who would refuse a little affection from a shy student?

Straightening herself, she slowly patted Ruby's back.

"Yeah... Ru-... Miss Rose, you can let go now"

Ruby peeled off from the hug, with a huge glee on her face.

"Professor, is it okay if I... Use the training grounds for a bit?" Ruby asked, looking hopefully at Glynda, her eye blinking slowly.

_'Cute. Diabolically cute' _Glynda thought before answering.

"And why is that?" she asked, faking a cough.

**"I need to... Well, Discipline my team a bit"**

* * *

**Well, that's for the chapter guys.** **Leave your opinions on it, as it is much, much appreciated.** **Also, tell me what you expect on the next update. If it is good,then I might try adding it ;) **


	6. Breaking WBY

"Weiss, you sure you still aren't able to get through to Ruby?" Yang asked for the 6th time today, while sitting on the bunk of the bed.

She had worry return all over her face, her eyebrows almost never relaxing, her mouth was curled into a deep frown.

For a while now, her heart hadn't calmed down. Her mind refusing to stop making up scenarios... Negative scenarios. Ranging from being at a friend's house, to being kidnapped by Roman. Every assumption was worse than than the previous one.

She didn't want to admit it, but she could very well remembered slapping her sister across the face two weeks ago.

At that time, she was filled with frustration and rage, that she failed to see what she had done. Only after Ruby went out, did she have enough peace of mind to calm down. Thinking back to it, she could still remember her sister's expression at that time.

She looked scared, and had tears welling up in her eyes. She looked so pained, that it still hurt remembering her whimpering voice.

She regretted it, what she had done to her precious sister. The same sister who used cling on to her every time she was scared...

_'Ruby... Where are you?__' _She thought as she breathed out a sigh.

She heard Weiss, who was sitting on the study table groan at her repeated question.

Dropping the pen on the open notebook, she scooted her chair around, now facing the worried Yang.

"Yang, you act like she is some infant lost in a mall. Surely, she might just be over to a friend's house or something." Weiss assured her, but deep down,she too was worried, and most importantly, annoyed.

Annoyed that Ruby was off irritating the team once again with her childish stunts. From the very first day, Ruby had done nothing but drag everyone along with her immature schemes, unknowingly getting on the nerves of a lot if people. But a bigger part of her was actually worried that something bad might have happened to their young leader.

"Maybe we should look somewhere outside Vale... Though I'd hardly suspect her going anywhere that far." Blake suggested from across the bed, keeping her eyes on the book.

"Sure she's usually reckless, but not _that _reckless. Then again, like Weiss said, maybe she's just at a friend's house"

"But she doesn't have any friends outside of Beacon!" Yang yelled, turning to Blake.

"Now that's a rude assumption to make"

Everyone's eyes in the room widened, as they immediately recognized the high pitched voice. All of them in snapped there heads to the door, and saw that it was indeed their missing leader.

Relief, anger, and regret. All three members of the team were flooded with a lot of emotions, that they wanted to pour it all over Ruby. But were stopped, as their eyes registered Ruby's new look.

She looked like an Emo, an _actual_ Emo unlike Blake. And the best part, she looked great. Though in her team's eyes, especially Yang's, she just looked corrupted and spoiled.

The team had to recollect their emotions and words, before they tried to speak with Ruby. But the redhead didn't give them the room to speak, as she just went past them and walked to the cupboard.

"Ruby, where the hell have you been!?" Yang yelled, as she came and stood behind Ruby.

The redhead paid no attention to her sister, as she was busy stacking her new cloths and her cloak on the cupboard.

_'Maybe I should buy some more cloths...' _she thought looking at the empty space.

Getting impatient for a reply, Yang yelled again.

"Ruby, answer me! WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN!?" this time, her tone somewhat shook Weiss and Blake. They've never heard the brawler get _this _angry over anything. But what stunned them more, was that Ruby was continuing to ignore the red eyed Yang.

The said girl pulled out the compact form of crescent rose from the cupboard, making Blake take a step back. Thanks to her time with white fang, she knew when something was wrong.

But that wasn't the case for Weiss and Yang, who continued glaring at the girl obliviously, as she sat on Weiss's bed, with her baby on her lap.

"What the hell were you thinking running off like that!? Why are you always such... Such a kid!?" Weiss yelled, stepping forward.

Again, no reply from Ruby, who just continued caressing her fingers over Crescent Rose, lovingly, as her black lips formed a subtle smile.

"Hey!! Say somethi-" Weiss was about to yell, if not for feeling the cold metal touching her neck.

Her eyes widened, and her body froze, as she realized that Ruby had opened and pointed her scythe at her. To elevate her fears, she could also feel the sharpness of it.

**Just a little tug, and...**

"Pretty sharp, isn't it?" Ruby asked. But got no reply, as all of her teammates were frozen in place with fear, looking at the blade with wide eyes.

Seeing their reactions, Ruby couldn't help but feel a bit bad for scaring them.

She removed her beloved scythe out of the way, and stood up.

"Now that I have all of your attentions, lemme get straight to the point." she said as she converted her love back to its rifle form and stood up.

"These past months, you people were... Possibly the most horrible team that anyone could ever ask for." she bluntly admitted, gaining a surprised gasp from Weiss. And a pained "what?" from Yang and Blake.

It somewhat hurt Ruby to put her sisters in a tough spot, but it was a necessary action. Something she should have done a long time ago.

With a little shake of head, Ruby continued.

"You people barely listen to what I have to say during missions, going off making your own strategies... Strategies that could've gotten all of us killed if not for me wearing myself out protecting everyone..." She wanted to complain about them ignoring her too, but she didn't.

She had Natalie now... So it didn't matter...

"I was... Scarred, of loosing you all. I didn't want to say something that would hurt you guys, causing you to hate me... But" Her tone sharpened as she continued.

"You guys, took advantage of my kindness. You took advantage of my love for all you... It was so cruel. Such a cruel thing to do..." Ruby shook her head as she grinned.

"Rubes, its not li-" Yang began, only to be cut off.

"But now, things are different. You see, I am pretty optimistic when it comes to my team. So, today you three have a chance." Ruby announced, while slightly spreading her arms.

"A chance?" Weiss questioned.

"Yup! You see, I'm gonna take on all three of you on by myself. If you guys win, then any one of you three can become the new team leader" Ruby added.

"Wait, really?" Weiss was first to question.

"Yup! It's a promise" Ruby grinned.

"Alright then... When are we gonna do it?" Surprisingly, it was Yang who asked.

"Right now." Ruby informed.

"Alright then, but if we win, then you are gonna have to listen to what we have to say" Yang said, hoping to find a way to explain their actions to Ruby.

They just wanted some time for themselves... An effortless apology like that...

"Sure!" Ruby chirped,very well aware of Yang's intentions.

"Alright then, lets do this!" Yang said with folded arms and a smug grin. It actually hurt to see that her once loving little sister had come to despise her, but at least now she had a chance to redeem herself.

"Cool! Now, off to the Arena you go! I'll be there after changing to my battle attire" Ruby said, hurrying her team out of the dorm room.

Once they were out, she shut the door behind them.

Once she locked the door, her smile dropped.

A facade that she kept throughout the conversation, was now gone. Replaced with a poker face, and eyes with a glint of hate.

Stretching her arms, she stripped from her dress and walked to the cupboard with only her Lacey underwear. All while thinking of few points to remember during the fight.

_'Okay Ruby, never stay in a place for longer than two seconds, it may lead to Weiss trapping me in her glyphs. The first time I hit Blake, it's gonna be a clone. Try not to go toe to toe with Yang, especially when she's using her semblance.' _

Also considering her stats, she had fair amount of superhuman strength, thanks to wielding Crescent rose. No doubt she was the fastest in the group. Plus, with her newly added calmness, there was an amazing fluidity in her arsenal. Besides, she's already observed her teammate's fighting many times, and she knew what to expect.

Since she was gonna do this without Crescent Rose, she had to make perfect use of her strength, speed and fluidity to ensure her victory.

Quickly deciding a strategy, she opened her cupboard and put on her new battle outfit.

A black tank top, to go with black cargo pants, with black boots. She also wore fingerless gloves that were of neon red and black. And to finish up, she wore a plain black velvet choker, that had a silver rose pendant, and a scarlet crystal in centre.

Even Ruby couldn't believe it, that Natalie was the one that brought all this for her.

Smiling to herself due to remembering Clockwork, she walked down to the arena.

Entering the plane arena, she saw that her team was already waiting for her, armed and ready. And surprisingly, a lot of people were gathered around to witness the fight.

People she very well knew, like team JNPR, CFVY, CRDL, Glynda Goodwitch to people who she's never bothered to even spare a second glance before. And she was sure, that Professor Ozpin was watching too.

As she entered the Arena, almost everyone took a moment to appreciate Ruby's looks. As it was a perfect blend of Goth and Punk.

Ignoring the looks, she continued walking. Once she was standing right in front of her team, who were still having a hard time taking in Ruby's new outfit, she spoke.

"The rules are very simple, you knock me out, you win. Got it?' Ruby asked, gaining few nods from her stunned teammates. Yang wanted to ask why Ruby wasn't wearing her cloak, but decided to question it later.

"Where is your Scythe?" Weiss asked.

"I won't need it for now" Ruby informed.

Weiss wanted to complain about Ruby's arrogance, but pushed down the urge.

_'I'll discipline this dolt after I become the team leader' _she advised herself.

Ruby took a look at her team, before starting hop as she announced:

"I'll remind you, If you can't beat me within the first 3 minutes, then I'll win this too easily" she grinned.

Yang readied her Ember Celica, as Weiss placed her hand on her Myrtenaster's handle, and Blake held onto her Gambol Shroud.

The bell rang, and the fight began with Weiss shooting Ice crystals at Ruby, who dodge them while bolting off to a side, keeping her body low to ground.

As she made a lot of distance between her and WBY, from the corner of her vision, she spotted a long arc of glyphs forming ahead of her.

_'An Ice wall to stop me from running ,huh?' _Ruby thought with a grin, before running right towards the glyphs. As she did, she noticed Yang exploding her way towards her, and Blake ready to launch one of the Sickles at her.

As the long wall of ice burst forth, Ruby jumped right on the Icy slop. Using her semblance for just a second, she propelled herself forward and used the momentum to skitter her way through the ice. Yang quickly followed up behind her, using Ember Celica to propel her forward.

While Yang was almost about to catch Ruby, Blake swung one of her sickles at Ruby, aiming to catch her.

Ruby immediately leaped off the Ice, catching the approaching sickle mid air. Without a breath of time, she used her semblance to spin, coiling the rope loosely around her and pulling Blake off the ground. Before the airborne duo can crash into each other, Ruby grounded herself and yanked the rope towards the ground, causing Blake to go face first into it.

Ruby took a look at Blake, who was rubbing her sore forehead, while slowly getting back to her feet.

"Stings, doesn't it?" Ruby whispered, before side stepping Yang's superman punch from behind. Turning towards Yang, she swiftly dodged a kick that swung across her face.

"Oooooh~ This is interesting" Ruby said as she dodged a jab, and blocked a spinning back fist from Yang.

"Shut up!" Yang yelled, as she delivered a jump spin kick to Ruby. At least was about to, if not for Ruby catching her ankle and slamming her to the ground.

Yang kicked her leg up, and got back to her feet. Not so surprisingly, Blake had gotten back to her feet too.

Giving a nod at each other, the Bumblebee pair pounced over to the redhead. Blake went to sweep Ruby's legs, and Yang swung her leg at her sisters face. The redhead saw that coming, and made a back flip.

As a the two pair of legs went past her, and her world turned upside down, she saw her sister's frustrated face. And despite herself, she thought...

**_'Pathetic..._****_'_**

Landing on her hands, she made two more back flips in order to avoid Blake's slashes, before performing a flare. The pair took a step back, in order to avoid any hit.

Weiss, who was far away from the team, raised her Myrtenaster and cast a huge glyph over Ruby.

This instantly came to Ruby's knowing, in the form of giant shadow cast down at her. She grinned ear to ear before making a move.

As the huge Iceberg descended down at them, Yang and Blake barely caught a glimpse of rose petals that circled them, before they saw Ruby already at a safe distance, waving at them with an innocent smile. The Bumblebee pair tried to get away from the icy impact too, only to trip down and realise that Ruby had used the ropes of Gambol Shroud to tie both of their legs.

Yang was quick to act, as she immediately got on top Blake, in an effort to shield her.

Before Weiss could even think of stopping the descending Ice, it already crashed down on the pair, with Yang taking most of the impact.

"Yang! Blake...! No..." Weiss regretted, as she for sure knew it would hurt like hell, to be crushed under an iceberg.

Gritting her teeth, she shot a glare at Ruby. As the redhead watched Blake, slowly and painfully slither out ice, she felt her partner's Icy glare pointing towards her.

Still keeping the innocent smile, Ruby turned to face Weiss, who was standing quite a distance away.

Ruby's smile stretched ear to ear, and her lips parted to show her gritted teeth. Grinning devilishly, she took a running stance, purposefully indicating to Weiss that she was about to use her semblance.

_'That's it! I'm ending this!'_ Weiss thought, as she formed a straight line of glyphs towards Ruby, Who had scarlet petals scattering around her.

In a flash, the heiress and the punk bolted towards each other. The crowd could only catch a glimpse, of what seemed like a walking blizzard, and a scarlet shooting star, moving towards each other at lightning speed.

Time seemed to slow down, as Ruby fluidly placed a hand over Myrtenaster and made a front flip, jumping over her partner in an inverted fashion. Weiss, immediately turned around, swinging her weapon in the process. But to her horror, she only saw scattering rose petals. In panic ,she turned around again.

Something, weighing as heavy as a rock, crashing on her face was the last thing she felt.

A nasty _crack _was heard, as Ruby dug her balled fist into Weiss's face. Thanks to the combination Ruby's slight super human strength, and the speed from her semblance, Weiss just felt the most painful and heaviest punch she's ever had.

The heiress went flying back, spraying few droplets of blood as a trail, before she fell limp on the ground. Obviously on the verge of passing out, it took all of her consciousness to realize that her face was a bloody mess, and her nose was utterly smashed.

As her vision darkened, the last thing she saw was Ruby, standing tall over her, holding her Myrtenaster.

As Weiss passed out, Ruby pulled out a veil of fire dust from her partner's weapon, and slipped it into her pocket.

"Weiss!" Ruby heard an all familiar voice scream. Throwing away the Myrtenaster, she turned her attention Blake.

The faunus was standing, with somewhat wobbly legs. Hissing in pain, she glared at Ruby, before lunging towards her team leader.

_'As expected of Blake, she doesn't give in...' _Ruby smiled in a twisted sense of moral, as she spin kicked Blake's clone, and grabbed the real one's foot before she could escape.

**_'But this fight is almost over!'_**

Slamming the pained faunus on the ground, Ruby got on top of her, and pinned Blake's arms to the ground using her knees.

The crowd watched in shock, as Ruby started punching poor Blake's face left and right. From the barrage of brutal punches, Blake spotted two things:

Ruby with a terrifying grin, and that her leader's hands had turned into a bloody mess. She realised that her lips had been cut, thus the sour taste in her mouth.

As Ruby continued beating up Blake's bloody, and swelling face, the Ice berg suddenly exploded.

"Heh~ sooner than I expected"

Ruby watched amusedly, as out from the garden of steam, Yang emerged.

Her eyes were an angry red, and her hair was on flames. Molten yellow flames.

With no thought, blinded by anger, Yang lunged at Ruby. Her hand already drawn back for a punch.

As she neared Ruby in fury, time slowed down again.

Right in front of her, she saw a veil of fire dust, slowly making its way towards her, just few inches away from her now. Her eyes widened, as behind the approaching fire dust, she saw Ruby.

She was standing there with a smile, and was holding one of Blake's shroud in rifle form. Most importantly, the barrel of the gun was pointed straight at the fire dust.

Yang's eyes widened, and before she could even fully realise it was a trap, she was blown away by an ear ringing explosion. The force was enough to knock her out, and send her flying out of the arena.

There was silence throughout the arena for a minute, everyone having difficulties trying to digest the unexpected brutality. Especially from the brightest student herself.

"Heh, gotta thank Roman for that" Ruby chuckled to herself.

But, the bell rang, and Glynda called off the match. The students were finally pulled out of their trans, and started cheering for Ruby's victory.

Hell, even Cardin himself couldn't help but join in the cheering.

As the medics arrived to pick up the beat up bodies of WBY, Glynda went on to sending the students back to their respective classes. At least was about to, if not for being tackled by Ruby herself.

"Professor!!!" Ruby exclaimed, as she hugged Glynda from behind.

Glynda pushed down a feminine yelp, and forcefully straightened herself. With a little blush on her cheeks due to the sudden assault, she faked clearing her throat and spoke.

"Ah... Miss Rose.." was all she could say, as Ruby was keeping her face annoyingly close to hers.

"Well? How was I!? How was I!?" Ruby chirped, with sparkling eyes, and an innocent smile that betrayed her black lips.

_'Miss Rose! What in remnant happened to your shyness!?' _Glynda thought to herself, before she spoke.

"Yes... You have improved greatly, Miss Rose." She said with a faint smile.

"Keep it up" for reasons unknown, it was hard maintaining her confident demeanour.

"Kyaaa! Professor praised me! Professor praised me!" Ruby chirped again, hugging the older woman tighter. After all, it wasn't normal for the very strict professor to actually praise someone.

_'This girl... She's gonna be the death of me if she goes on like this' _Glynda flustered, glad no one saw her soft side for her favourite student.

Though a part of her still wondered, how someone so bright like herself, could display such a cold brutality?

_'Maybe she was always this way?' _Glynda thought, urging the redhead to let go of the hug before someone saw them.

* * *

From the far off end of the empty arena, two shadowy silhouettes materialised from thin air.

They ominously stood there for good minute, before gaining colour and shape.

One being Natalie, grinned at the woman next to her. The new woman wore a black dress, and had perfect white skin. Her eyes however... Were just black. Even Sclera included, were an abyssal black.

Her naturally black lips managed to stay as emotional as her face was, as she looked on.

"Well, Isn't she something?" Clockwork asked, still in a euphoric bliss, thanks to what she saw her beloved Rose do.

"Well... At least she isn't as annoying as you are" the pale woman sighed.

"Still can't believe I had to use my semblance just so you could watch your pet fight"

"Hey! She's not a pet!" Natalie glared at Jane, who just scoffed in response.

W"Come on, Jane. I know you liked what you saw" she grinned.

"Yeah right" Jane said bluntly.

"Yeah you did. Now, why don't you take her under your wing, and teach her how to use anger?" Clockwork suggested, unable to keep her eyes off Ruby.

Though, Ruby being so close to Goodwitch kinda... ticked her off.

"Are you saying I have anger issues, bitch?" Jane sternly asked. Her voice deepening.

"A little, yes" Natalie chuckled.

"I mean, look. She even wears all black like you!"

"Yeah right... She has better fashion sense than you." Jane spat out.

Natalie growled in frustration, before deciding to pull the trump card.

"Fine... If you are not interested, I guess I'll ask Jeff-" She couldn't even finish her sentence, before Jane interrupted her saying:

"Fine! I'll take her under my wing!" she yelled.

However, her scowling face formed a grin, as she looked back at Ruby. Licking her lips with her inky black tongue, she said:

**"Who knows, maybe I'll even have a taste of her"**

* * *

**Welp, that's it for the chapter folks.**

**Leave your thoughts, as I always take my time to read them.**

**Also, if there is anything specific you want to see happening on the next chapter, do mention it. I'll try adding them ;)**


	7. Anger and excitement

"You guys... Are you even okay?" Pyrrha asked, not failing to display concern in her tone.

A mild shake of head from Blake was the thing closest to an answer they got.

Seeing this, the members of team JNPR picked glances at each other, before looking back at the broken members of WBY.

Just two hours ago, after seeing them get brutally pummeled up by their team leader, Ruby Rose, they couldn't help but worry about the condition they were in.

Team JNPR were allowed to visit them only before 10 minutes ago. Thankfully, they didn't have to see their friends in a condition too terrible... At least not as bad as they feared.

With a sigh spilling out of her mouth, Pyrrha eyed WBY's injuries.

Yang had little bruises and burns all over her body, thanks to coming in close contact with a fire dust explosion. If it weren't were for her semblance being active at that time, the scars would've been more... **Fatal.**

Maybe Ruby already knew that.

For some reason, that thought gave Pyrrha a little shudder.

Weiss had a little bandage over her nose, which had obviously been fractured. Remembering the punch from Ruby, that broke through Weiss's aura like an egg shell, Pyrrha shivered a bit.

Even from the audience seat, Pyrrha remembered feeling surprised when she felt the intensity of the punch. It surprised her even more that it came from Ruby.

And as for Blake... Pyrrha felt the most sorry for her.

She had a black eye, and a side of her face was swollen a bit. She also had cuts on her lips, which prevented her from speaking much. She wasn't talkative to begin with, so she was currently as good as mute.

Although the wounds weren't that fatal. They'd probably be gone without a trace within next few hours.

But still, it wasn't an excuse to ignore this brutality.

The amount of brutality in that fight was surprising even for her, especially considering it was totally one sided. In fact, the fight itself felt unbelievably one sided too. Weiss, Yang and Blake, they seemed all armed and ready at first, but as soon as the fight started, her assumptions were immediately contradicted.

From the very beginning, to the very end, Ruby was in perfect control of the entire sparring. Hell, it actually felt like she was controlling her opponent's movements too. It was like WBY did exactly what Ruby had expected them to, and fell right under Ruby's strings.

_'__To think Ruby was planning so much ahead...__' _saying it was unexpected would be an understatement.

Pyrrha couldn't place a finger on it, but she felt like something was wrong with Ruby.

Not different, just... Wrong.

Like, her old bubbly and shy self was being consumed away by something she couldn't see...

Then again, that was just a gut feeling. There was no absolute evidence to support her claim. Sure, there was her new punk and goth makeover. But then again, changing one's look wasn't something to be bothered about.

_Maybe I'm over thinking... _Then again, ignorance wasn't a good option.

"Guys..." Pyrrha called out, causing all of her friend's heads to turn towards her.

"Don't you think something is wrong with Ruby?"

As soon as she said that, she could almost feel Yang's attention on her. Of course, considering Yang is her sister and all, she expected it.

"Yeah! Since when did she become soooo coool!?" Nora yelled while pumping her fist up.

Jaune visibly cringed over Nora's actions and shook his head. Ren just kept his poker face and answered...

"Hmm. Well, she seemed like she was enjoying herself" he answered. Emotion weren't really his part of the playground, but he could understand it pretty well.

"Yeah, but a bit too much, don't you think?" Pyrrha questioned.

Yang and Weiss just silently sat there, listening to what their friends had to say about Ruby's new change.

Yang was worried if anyone had been a bad influence to Ruby. 'cause if someone was truly behind it, then she'd have to go and turn them into mince meat.

Meanwhile, Weiss was feeling more than just worry. A huge part of her was angry over her partner.

_'who does she think she is!?__' _First, she made all of her team worry about her with her childish antics, and then she showed up out of nowhere, and humiliated her in the name of sparring!

With her pride clouding over logic, she couldn't consider the fact that Ruby beat them fair and square.

"I... Agree..." Blake spoke, for the first time since they came for visit.

Now it was her turn to be the centre of attention, with all of her friend's having their eyes focused on her.

"I saw the look on her face..." She swallowed a lump on her throat, as she remembered the look on her team leader's face.

Blood stained hands, and looking down at her with a devilish grin. Blake could still feel the shivers when she thought about it.

"She... She was loving every moment of it. She looked so... So..." _So much like Adam..._

"Yang" Blake called out to her partner, her face looking serious despite the swells.

"Yes, Blake?" Yang asked, now sitting up straight on the corner of the bed.

"I..." Blake began, seemingly hesitating on her words.

_I can't say it... Ruby is nothing like Adam!_

She didn't wanted to believe it. She wanted to believe that Ruby was just going through a phase, and nothing else.

Or maybe this was all just due to a certain someone's influence on her...

If that was the case, then...

"lets..." she slightly hissed due to stinging on her lips, before continuing to speak.

"Lets... Keep an eye... On her... For now" She finally spoke out, while struggling to not put any strain on her lips.

"W-why, Blake?" Yang asked, her eyes contorted into a glare, while rest of her face showed nothing but worry.

"Do you think something is wrong with my sister?"

Blake just sighed and shook her head. Knowing the over protectiveness of Yang, she couldn't possibly say anything that'd make her... Disport.

"No... Yang. Lets not... decide on anything... This early..." Blake waved her hand, in an almost pleading tone.

"Lets just ... wait for Ruby to ... come back to our dorm... Then we'll talk ..."

"If... If you say so, kitty" Yang sighed with half relief, also taking a mental note on asking Ruby where she had been for the past weeks.

As the group fell silent, Yang's mind inevitably crossed towards the fight.

She was amazed that her little sis could fight so well, despite being a bit angry that she got her ass kick.

But amazement aside, there was something else bothering her.

Before the match started, she had made a deal with her sister. That if they happened to come out victorious, she would listen to what they had to say.

Now the only chance to redeem herself was gone.

Her mind was still far from admitting their negligence, so she had no idea why Ruby was behaving so... Distant from them... From her.

_'__Worst team anyone could ask for__' _she remembered her sister's harsh words. She knew that despite Ruby's childish demeanor, she took being a team leader seriously. Way too seriously, even.

She once remembered Ruby trying to ask Blake out, in order to break the ice between her and the team. Hell, she even got so close towards the ice queen, Weiss. Though it kinda ended up in disaster, it was an admirable effort from Ruby.

But despite all that, words like 'worst team' was too far from anything Ruby would say. Even when her team would mess up, Ruby would often take all the responsibility for it, and never have word of complain about it.

Besides, Yang never expected Ruby to even raise her voice, let alone scold. It was obvious that Ruby was verbally hurting them, but maybe she did it out of anger?

Does Ruby even get angry to begin with?

She even remembered Ruby calling their team a second family before. So it pained her a lot, to know that Ruby was acting so distant from them.

_'Just what happened to you, Ruby?' _Yang thought, slightly saddened by something she couldn't understand.

It felt like her heart was crying out to something, yet she couldn't place a finger on it.

_Would it be too late before she figures it out__?_

* * *

"Ruby!" Neptune exclaimed, as he slid down on his knees in front of Ruby, with flowers in his extended hand. The worst part about it, he did it in the hallway, for every passing by student to see.

The redhead gave a inaudible yelp to herself, as she was suddenly greeted by the blue haired guy. Ruby took a look around her, and surely everyone's eyes in the hallways were on them now. She didn't pay much attention to the stares, she didn't mind them...

Actually, she didn't really care...

At the beginning, she used to sought out acknowledgment by others. She wanted to be accepted by others...

_'__Why?'_ She couldn't remember the reason anymore.

She couldn't remember why she wanted everyone to acknowledge her so badly, no matter how much thought she put into it.

_'__Oh well__' _Whatever the reason it was, it didn't bother her in the slightest. In fact, she was happy. Happy that she didn't care about what everyone thought.

Everyone except Natalie.

Shaking her head and snapping out of her thoughts, she focused back on Neptune, who was still on his knees. He had an annoying glee all over his face, and his eyes were gleaming with... With whatever she couldn't care about.

"Yes, Neptune. What do you want?" she asked, a bit too bold on her words. Her words not only surprised the blue haired man, but also herself.

Usually, she wouldn't start a conversation with someone without giving her chirpy 'hi!'. Or something like that.

_Maybe she was annoyed._

Hit with a straight and blunt question, Neptune slightly recoiled. He expected a hearty greeting, so that he could fit his hit line before conversing. However, not wanting to make the situation awkward, he spoke up.

"Hey Ruby" He said as he got off his knees and stood up properly.

Ruby just stared at him, her black lips curved in a faint smile. Taking that as the hint, Neptune continued.

"Um... Cool fight right there" he grinned with a wink, only managing to make himself look stupid. In Ruby's eyes at least.

_'What is he trying to do?' _Ruby thought to herself, still not giving a proper answer to his flattery. Her curious eyes loomed over his, as she folded her arms and continued to remain silent. The eye contact didn't last long however, as Neptune looked away. For some reason, he found her gaze to be challenging. Like, it was daring him to look at her.

_'He won't even look at me in the eyes...' _Ruby thought, growing more and more irritated by him by the second. She was never the type of person to be bothered by others behaviour, but now, she couldn't help but notice how it annoyed her.

Neptune swallowed a lump down his throat, and pulled his words up. Not willing to give up yet.

After all, the current Ruby was currently the coolest in the entire school. Who wouldn't want a chance with her?

"You..." he began again, straightening himself

"You had a make over, damn you look awesome!" he exclaimed, giving her another wink.

Well, at least his compliments were honest, rather than plain flattery. And even now, as she stood there wearing skin tight black jeans which hugged her curve, with a jet black one shoulder T-shirt that embraced her gentle bust, and black boots, his words were nowhere wrong.

Not to mention, she had a bang of her hairs covering half of her right eye. Along with thin black eyeliner around her eyes, and glossy black lipstick.

Her outlook was a simple blend of Goth and Punk, yet it easily made her more eye catching than anyone else. The guys and girls with admiring looks on their faces were the evidence of it.

Anyway

"Neptune" Ruby called out, her smile seeming a lot fainter than before. Like it was threatening to fade away.

"Do you have anything to say?" she asked, being purposefully blunt this time. For some reason, she was feeling very irritated by the guy in front of her. So irritated that she wanted to punch him in the face.

**So irritated that she wanted to paint a rose on the wall with his-**

"Alright!" Neptune exclaimed, taking in a deep breath."I like you, Ruby! Lets date!"

"Yeah no"

Ruby's reply came without a pause after his confession. She seemingly have decided to reject him the very moment she saw him. But what surprised Neptune more than the rejection, was that Ruby denied him without a second thought.

After all, Ruby was usually submissive...

"Is that all?" Ruby asked while rubbing her fingers over her velvet choker, making her impatience known.

By now, every student who were walking by had stopped to see the conversation. The conversation wasn't a loud one to begin with, but it was the tension radiating from it that seemed to attract the attention.

_'I clearly asked him if that was all, yet why is he not answering?' _Ruby thought, getting more and more disgusted at Neptune, who just seemed to be standing in front of her, looking nervous and fidgeting, not knowing what to say.

"Well... Umm... You see" Neptune tried to say something, but couldn't bring out his words.

The tension in the air seemed like it was heavily weighing down his chest, as he felt very defenseless in front of Ruby's gaze. It seemed like she was noticing every minor movement he made.

At an uncomfortable time like this, he couldn't decide on weather to fight or flea, so his body choose to freeze.

"... Whatever" Ruby muttered with a sigh, before walking past him.

Neptune was just left to stand there, feeling defeated and for some reason , relived. Once Ruby walked away, It seemed like he was finally freed off metal restraints.

All she did was stay silent, yet it made him so unconformable. Like he was in a swimming pool.

He regretted coming to approach her.

* * *

"Haa..." Ruby sighed, resting her hands behind her head, as she continued walking down the hallway.

_'Is it just me, or is today getting more and more boring?' _she wondered. Sure, her day had an interesting start, with her getting to ... Discipline her team. But after that, her interest started dropping steadily.

After the fight, she spoke to Glynda. Oblivious to herself, she had somehow charmed Glynda to go on date with her.

Though, Ruby wouldn't really call that a date. After all, it was just a trip to one of Vale's weapon shop. Glynda was just accompanying her as a combat teacher.

After coaxing Glynda for the date, all she did was go to library, and spent some time reading a book on dark humour. If there was one thing constant, then it would be guys and girls alike hitting on her. Of course, she politely declined them.

But for some reason, she felt nothing but hate towards the people who tried hitting on her.

Back when she was still the shy red riding hood, everybody left her in the shadows. But now that there was a new flavour to her, everybody's eager to get a taste of her.

And she hated it.

She wasn't interested in keeping anyone particularly close to her. Not anymore.

Well, Natalie was an exception though, as she was already the closest person in Ruby's heart. Even without being poisoned by aura, the redhead couldn't imagine a time where Natalie left her like how everyone else did.

Not that Ruby realized it.

_'Was Beacon always so boring?' _She thought, continuing to walk towards the main hallway entrance.

Certainly, at one point, she used to have lots of fun with her friends and Yang. But those were in the past, and such times would never come back. That happiness once rejected her, and she didn't want to crawl back towards it either.

Now she had Natalie with her, so maybe this time, she could find a happiness that she could hold on to. Forever.

Anyway, removing 'fun with friends' out of her once regular life in Beacon, what did she have left?

_'A plain, boring school life...' _Oh well, at least she had plans to keep herself engaged. Or else, she'd have probably ran back to Natalie already.

Speaking of Natalie, Ruby couldn't believe how much she was missing her 'friend' in just few hours.

Obviously, these past weeks, she's been the happiest she could ever remember, all thanks to Natalie. Just this morning, she was all cuddling and close to her, yet within just a few hours, she was already craving her cold embrace.

_'I'll go visit her this Saturday, and spend the night with her' _Ruby concluded, oblivious to the blush blooming on her cheek. To her, Natalie was still just a friend.

Lucky for her, Saturday was just tomorrow.

Having decided on her plan, Ruby continued walking down the hallway. After another minute of walking, Ruby reached the main entrance.

But what surprised her, was that her 'date' was already waiting for her. Glynda Goodwitch, a.k.a the professor wicked witch. She was wearing her regular cloths, with her purple cloak very present. Ruby didn't really expect her to agree to go on a date to begin with, but didn't complain when Glynda actually submitted to her will.

"Professor!" Ruby lunged forward and tackled the older woman, unintentionally burying her head in between her mature chest.

Glynda was able to keep herself from tripping over, but couldn't help the faint blush spreading over her cheek.

"Ms. Rose, I would like you to stop sticking so close to me. At least while in the school grounds" Glynda informed, clearing her throat and pushing up her glasses, taking on her professional gait.

"Ok ok! I got it!" Ruby chirped, slowly letting go of Glynda.

"Well, lets get going!" Ruby said, managing to get herself excited.

"Ah, Ms. Rose!" Glynda called out, causing Ruby to stop and look at her.

"Before we go, I'd like to ask you one thing... Can I?" Glynda asked, sounding uncharacteristically nervous.

Ruby just blinked a few times, looking genuinely confused. However, she gestured her to 'go on' with nod.

"Why are you, all of a sudden so close to me?" Glynda asked.

For her, being a passionate teacher meant being strict. She was strict, cause she'd rather have her pupils go on the right path, rather than failing to guide them by being friendly.

Well of course, this came with a drawback. The students, sometimes even the teachers themselves would avoid her to their best. Who knows what kind of lecture she would pop out of nowhere?

So it didn't make much sense, when Ruby just boldly started approaching her, let alone going as far to hug her.

If she remembered correctly, Ruby got a harsh lecture from her just few minutes after they met for first time.

So why would she, out of all people try getting close to her?

What did she even have to gain by that?

"'Why'?" Ruby repeated Glynda's question, with a face that said 'Isn't that obvious?'

However, she noticed that Glynda actually meant her question when the Blondie remained silent.

She sighed, as her black lips gave the sweetest smile Glynda's ever seen.

"It's because I like you, Professor"

Hearing those words, Glynda's eyes widened as her entire face took on shade of red. She expected an answer like 'Because I was bored' or something like that, but never something so... Cute.

_'This girl... Was she always like this?' _Glynda questioned to herself, as she brought her hand up to cover her blushing face.

Ruby just chuckled at her reaction.

Sure, she somewhat meant her words, but thing is that she didn't like anyone like how she liked Natalie.

_'But it's okay though...__' _Seeing Glynda's cute expression was worth lying a bit.

"Lets go then, Professor" Ruby said, softly grabbing Glynda's hand and leading her forward.

Glynda didn't say anything, she just nodded and followed along. Her face was somewhat downcast, but it was only to hide her blushing face.

As they exited Beacon, Ruby started counting the number of things she's planned out for the evening. Since tomorrow was Saturday, she felt it would be fine to enjoy the rest of the evening, and come back late.

_'Hmm... Let's see. First, go to the weapon shop. Once done with that, go for a quick shopping, and after that, have dinner in... Some good restaurant, and finally, go to a movie'_ as she listed out her things to do for the evening, she was satisfied with her plan.

_'I can't wait to have fun this evening__!' _Ruby squealed to herself.

She actually would have preferred to do all this with Natalie, but oh well. This wasn't all that bad... Maybe.

As she and Glynda walked towards the main gate, hand in hand, Ruby stopped. Glynda just looked on curiously, as Ruby turned towards the parked vehicles and pulled out a key.

She pressed a button on her key, and a motor cycle's lights beeped.

As Glynda took a closer look, she noticed that it was coloured in black and yellow. Mainly yellow.

"Isn't that Ms.Xiao Long's...?"

"Bumblebee" Ruby interrupted her.

"But its not _Yang's_" Ruby informed, as she started walking towards the bike.

"Yang maybe the one that rides this often, but I'm the one that built this little baby" Ruby grinned, as she hopped on.

"You built this yourself?" Glynda questioned in disbelief.

"Yup!" Ruby exclaimed, as she started the bike.

Usually Yang would be upset with her for laying a finger on 'her' bike. But after the little quarrel they had, she doubted that her sister had the audacity to even raise her voice.

Ruby wore neon red and black fingerless gloves, which gave a certain feel when she held the brakes and raised the accelerator few times. The sound of grinding motor filled the surrounding, catching people's attention.

They took a moment to adore the redhead, as her Punk charm fit well with the motorcycle.

She turned to Glynda with a grin, and said:

"Hop in"

Glynda felt like she would regret this, but that didn't stop her from getting in. As she sat on the back, she instinctively wrapped her arms around Ruby.

As Ruby was sure that Glynda was seated properly, she only said:

"Sit sight, Professor" before speeding off towards the main road.

At a distance, Glynda's fearful cries were the last thing to be heard.

* * *

**Aaaaaand yeah, that's it for this chapter.**

**Next chapter is gonna focus more on Ruby, Jane and Clockwork , I promise.**

**So yeah, leave yar opinions and suggestions, as I always take my time to read them.**

**See y'all in the next update!**


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